“Changing The World” was created as part of the Russian Federation’s Bid for Expo2025. I was among a small group of 20 international artists to each paint a life-size Matryoshka doll.

The face behind “Changing The World” was to Mother Nature. Painted in black and white to represent people from all colour, ethnicity and religion and to unite us as humans.

The green globe represents the world and the possibilities for innovations and a better life for the future. The majority of the doll is painted in different shades of blue and white to mimic what the earth looks like from space. Sometimes we might not see the entire view of the world as it can often be clouded but that that passed.

There are a few honeycomb designs scattered on the doll to represents the importance of biodiversity in our world. The flower in Mother Nature’s hair represents the beauty in life that is often staring us in the face, but still we look pass it. The honeycomb and flowers are all made from upcycled aluminum coffee capsules.

I wanted every person that looked this doll to think about Mother Nature and think about how the choices we are making today is affecting her.

The doll was first exhibited at the Sustainable Plaza in Sustainable City, Dubai. The second exhibition was on the embarkment of the Seine in Paris, France where all the dolls stood proud ahead of the announcement for the Exp2025. Before they all returned to their final home in Ekaterinburg , Russia.

Title: “Changing The World”

Dimensions: 1800mm x 1000mm x 1000mm

Medium: Mixed Medium (Nespresso Capsules, acrylic paint and Fiberglass mould)

About the author, Mariska

Hi and welcome! My name is Mariska. I am originally from South Africa, but now call the world my home. I am an artist, designer, environmentalist, podcast host and speaker.

I started the Mama Earth Talk podcast in 2018 to share some of the things that I learned about just how easy it can be to reduce your impact on the environment. This then quickly grew into a forum that showcases the amazing things that many people are doing to make the planet better, and further into a source of hope and inspiration for many. A few of the amazing guests include Zero Waste Queen, Bea Johnson, Claude Silver, Kathryn Kellogg and zero waste chef Max La Manna.

If you do not already I urge you to follow me and my journey on social media (@designbymariska), and to refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot your own waste using the handy tips I post!